St. Louis County Executive Charlie A. Dooley will ask the County Council tonight to approve a $250,000 supplemental appropriation from the general fund to help curb sex trafficking in St. Louis County. The funds will be used to establish a computer forensic laboratory and hire two forensic examiners.
“The immediate appropriation will increase staff that is dedicated to forensic analysis of electronic material, computers, cell phones and I-Pads; these are the tools of sex trafficking,” Dooley said.
The County Executive has been meeting with Police Chief Jon Belmar and members of the human trafficking unit along with advocates including the YWCA, Crisis Aid International and the International Institute to better understand the magnitude of the problem in St. Louis County. The County Executive issued a directive to the Chief to submit a plan for addressing the additional resources the police department needs to address the issue. The supplemental appropriation request made by the Chief is the first in a series of steps to combat trafficking.
“This will expand our one-man forensics lab; the goal is a staff of five computer forensic examiners who will use computers, software and other equipment to examine the computers seized from arrests and search warrants to gather electronic data, recover evidence and complete forensic reports,” Chief Belmar said.
An anticipated cost of $530,000 will be requested in the 2015 budget process for the remainder of this project according to the Chief.
The County Executive will announce additional details of a multi-pronged approach to address human trafficking involving other County departments in the near future.